Mechanism for applying caps to containers



June 6, 1933. G. A. WILLIAMS MECHANISM FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1930 INVENTOR fllAkMJA/M A TTORNE YS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR A TTORNEYJ'v G. A. WILLIAMS MECHANISM FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 16 1939 3 H, i l \\\\\k///// June 6, 1933.

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I y a June 6, 1933. G. A. WILLIAMS 1,912,677

MECHANISM FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 16, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 /7 6' Z /f 6 I w w N 2/ fl A TTORNE YJ June 6, 1933. G. A WILLIAMS MECHANISM FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 16, 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR A TTORNEYS June 6, 1933. G. A. WILLIAMS MECHANISM FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 16. 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented June 6, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE enoneu a wrrinraivrs, or nnoar'un, ILLINors, essleivon 'ro WILLIAMS SEALING oonroan'rron, DECATUR, iLLmors, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS MECHANISIVI FOR APPLYING CAPS TO CONTAINERS Appheation filed September This invention relates to in'iprovements in machines or mechanisms for applying caps to containers.

In the use of such ma rhinos or meclilanisms, as heretofore constructed, considerable loss has resulted from the crushing of glass bottles or containers and the deforming of metal receptacles due to the strains imposed upon them during the capping operation.

It is the primary purpose of the present invention to obviate this difficulty by providing means for grasping the neck or nozzle of the container immediately below the end to which the cap is applied and supporting the container thereby while the cap is being pressed upon or secured to the neck or nozzle so as to restrict the pressure incident thereto to the portion of the neck or nozzle above the grasping means and thus prevent strains being imposed upon the body portions of the containers. a

. It may bra-explained that caps of the sort used in machinesof the class referred to contain liners of compressible material, such as cork, that are adapted to be pressed firmly into and about the mouth of the container so as to seal the same, and the caps are form ed with peripheral. skirts that are arranged to be contracted about a bead surrounding the mouthv of the container for holding the cap to the neckor nozzle withtho liner compressed. Examples of such a cap are to be i 7 found in my prior Patent No. 1.108.059, dated September 1, 1914:, and in an application filed Wme on the 19th day ofJune, 1930, Serial While it is found. that the portion of the neck or nozzle to which the strains are confined in the use of my present improvements is amply strong to withstand the pressure necessaryto satisfactorily compress the cap liners, it is expedient, for obvious reasons, to

avoid pressures much in excess of that required,

further object of my invention,

16, 1930. Serial N0. 482,186.

anism, yet one that is relatively simple and inexpensive, for carrying into effect the broader purposes above set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, I have illustrated the inventlon as incorporated in a rotary bottle capping machine of the type shown and described in detail in the application of R0- land F. Hill, filed January 11, 1926, Serial No. 80,530. Machines of this general type are well. known in the art.

For the purpose of the present disclosure it is deemed sufficient to include only those parts of the machine wherewith my improvements are associated, although it may be ex,- plained that the machine involves a standard about which a turret-like structure r0- tates, and said turret-like structure supports for vertical movement a plurality of radially disposed tables or carriers that are adapted to support the bottles or containers, and which are elevated during the course of their or bital travel so as to successively engage the capped necks or nozzles of the bottles or containers with pressure heads or anvils which serve, by reason of the elevation of the tables or carriers, to compress the cap liners and press the caps onto the necks or nozzles, said pressure heads or anvils being located above and fixed against vertical movement with respect to, but. otherwise movable with, the tables or carriers. Locatedat one point in the course of travel of said tables or carriers is a cap delivery means for depositing the caps upon the necks or nozzles, and at anadvanced point, preferably where the caps are placed under pressurefor the purpose of compressing their liners, is a cap securing means.

The Hill machine above referred to is designed to handle caps like those shown in my above identified patent and application. Each cap incorporates a divided ring that is carried by the notched lower end of the skirt of the cap and serves to contract the same about the circumferential bead that surrounds the mouth of the bottle or container when the separated ends of said ring are drawn toward each other by the depression of a cam lever which is operatively connected thereto. The

cap securing means in the present instance, therefore, is the lever actuating mechanism.

It is not to be understood from the foregoing that my invention is confined to association with machines of the type described nor to the handling of caps of the sort shown in my above mentioned patent and application, it being obvious that the improvements are applicable to any bottle capping mechanisms by which the caps are firmly pressed upon and secured to the mouths of the containers.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of a rotary capping machine incorporating my invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section through the machine in the vicinity of one of the container supporting tables or carriers; Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 2, showing the carrier at the cap securing station; Fig. l is a perspective view of a cam block that coacts with the neck or nozzle gripping means; Fig. 5 is a similar view of a part of the ripping means which is arranged for cooperation with the cam block of Fig. a; Fig. 6 is an enlarged. detail of the means for regulating the pressure that is imposed upon the work during the capping operation; Fig. 7 a sectional plan of the machine, in the nature of a diagram, the section being taken above the plane of the tables or carriers; Fig. 8 is a view illustrating the relation between the container, as it rests uporj. the table or carrier, and the aws of the neck or nozzle gripping means Fig. 9 is a similar View showing the neck or nozzle gripped by said means and the container lifted thereby from the table or carrier; and Figs. 10 and 11 are views, similar to Figs. 8 and 9, showing the gripping means as modified for cooperation with the neck of a bottle, and the manner of such cooperation.

The standard of the machine is designated 1. and the turret-like structure that is rotatably supported thereby is designated, generally, by the reference numeral 2. Said struc ture involves a series of radially disposed arms 3 that support tables or carriers 5, and a member 6 that is spaced a suitable distance above the plane of the arms 3 and supports pressure heads or anvils 7 in opposed relation to the tables or carriers. The weight of the turret-like structure 2 is sustained by an antifriction bearing 10.

Each table or carrier 5 is secured, as by a screw 11, to the upper end of a push rod 12 whose lower end is shown as equipped with a roller 13 that is arranged to traverse a stationary cam track 14 that is mounted upon a bracket 15 which is secured against rotation to the standard 1.

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 6, the cam track 14 has a rather abrupt incline 14, a straight or horizontal portion 14 and a gradual incline 14 which merges with the top surface of an extension 17 that is hinged to the cam track at 17 The extension 17 bears upon a pin 18 that is guided within a vertical bore of the bracket 15 and has its lower end threaded for the application of a nut 19, between which, and a seat 20 a compression spring 21 is interposed. The seat 20 is in the nature of a washer that surrounds the smooth reduced upper end 22 of a screw 24c and rests upon a shoulder 23 between said smooth end and the body of said screw. T he screw is threaded through the lower end of a U-shaped member 25 that is suitably secured to and depends from the bracket 15. By adjusting the pin 18 within the nut 19 the elevation of the cam track extension 17 may be adjusted vertically; and by turning the screw 24, as by the application of a wrench to the head 26 thereof, the tension of the spring 21 may be adjusted.

It is apparent from what has thus far been described that when the turret-like structure 2 is rotated by suitable means (not shown), the rollers 13 will traverse the cam track 14 and extension 17 thereof thereby to elevate the push rods 12 and the tables or carriers 5 that are supported thereby. The tables or *arriers are restrained from rotary motion about the axes of the push rods 12 by guide pins 30 that rise from the arms 3 and have a slidable fit in sockets 31 that are formed in depending bosses 32 of the tables or carriers.

Secured to and rising from the inner end of each of the tables or carriers 5 is a unit that is designated generally by the reference character 35 and that is provided with vertically spaced container engaging fingers 36, laterally spaced jaw supporting arms 37, and spaced apart guides 38. On the arms 38 are pivots 39, in the nature of screws, on which are fulcrumed neck or nozzle gripping jaws or members 40. The adjacent ends of the opposed jaws 40 are notched or recessed con1- plementary to the contour of the necks or nozzles all of the containers 4-2, and the upper edges of the notched or recessed ends of the jaws are chamfered at 43 to correspond substantially to the inclined undersurface 44 of a head 45 that surrounds the neck or nozzle 41 immediately below the bead or so-called finish 46 thereof to which the cap is adapted to be applied. The swinging movement of the jaws 40 in one direction is limited by the engagement of pins or lugs 48 thereof with stops 49 that are carried by the arms 37.

The opposite ends of a yoke 50 are pivotally connected at 51 to the opposed jaws 40 and the same is suitably fastened to the forward end of a rod 52 that is reciprocably sup ported within bores of the previously mentioned guides 38. A compression spring 53 surrounds the forward end of the rod 52 and is interposed between the yoke 50 and the ad jacent guide 38 and tends to urge the yoke forwardly thereby to swing the jaws out wardly to open position, which position is determined by the engagement of the lugs 48 with the stops 49, as above explained. I

Secured to the rod 52, intermediate the guides38, is a head 55 having lugs 56 extending from its opposite sides. These lugs are arranged for cooperation with inclines 57 of a cam block 58 that is supported above from tongue and groove serving to hold the block in alignment with the bracket.{

Following the usual practice, the containers 42 are delivered to and removed from the machine by belts or conveyors 65 and 66, and

associated with the respective belts or con veyors are guide rails 67 and 68, the former for directing the containers onto the tables or carriers 5, and thelatter for removing them therefrom onto the belt or conveyor 66.

As the turret like structure 2 rotates, the fingers 36 that are associated with the carriers or tables 5 engagethe containers as they are delivered to the machine by the conveyor 65 and move them into contact with the guide rail 67 which, in turn, serves to cam the containers inwardly onto the carriersor tables.

By the time acontainer reaches the end of the guide rail 67 it has been moved inwardly into axial alignment with the pressure head or anvil 7 thereabove, and the neck or nozzle of the container, engaging the jaws 40, swlng them inwardly to so-called closed or gripping position. Theparts'are shown in this positionat the right hand side of Fig. 1. Be-

" fore the container actually leaves the rail 67 the roller 13 on the lower end of the corresponding push rod 12 will have traveled up the incline 14 of the cam track 14 and elevated the table or carrier to the position in which it is sustained by the horizontal portion 14 ofthe track, as will be apparent from an mspection of Fig. 7. With the table elevated, the lugs 56 thatareconnected, through the head 55, to the rod 52 are disposed to the rear ofthe cam block 58.

At a suitable pointin the orbital travel of each table or carrier, effected by the rotation of thjeturret-like structure 2, a cap 70 is ap plied by suitable means (not shown) to the mouth of the container sustained thereby, and

tion will be elevated further by the ascent of the roller 13 along the incline 14 of the cam track and the adjacent upwardly inclined surface of the extension 17. As the parts attain their maximum elevation, the cap 7 0 is pressed over the mouth of the container by the pressure head or anvil 7 so as to compress the liner of the cap and seal the container,

and at this point, according to the present embodiment, the locking lever 71 of the cap is depressed by the lever actuating mechanism designated generally by the reference numeral 72 and which is suitably supported in a stationary position by a part of the machine, as will be seen by reference to the aforesaid application of Roland E. Hill.

As the jaws 40 close about the neck or nozzle of the container, the chamfered surfaces 43 thereof coact with the underneath inclined surface 44 of the head 45 thatsurrounds the neck or nozzle 41 and cams the same upwardly thereby to bodily lift the container from the container supporting surface of the table or carrier5, as shown in Figs. 3 and 9, and the parts are positively held in this condition by the engagement of the trunnions 56 with the rear surface of the cam block 58. Thus it will be seen that during the capping operation, when considerable pressureis imposed upon' the work to properly compress the liner of the cap in and about the mouth of the container, the body portion of the container is relieved of all strain, and consequently danger of breakage thereof or injury thereto is eliminated. So

that the pressure imposed upon the portion of the neck or nozzle above the abutment which consists of the bead 44 may, not ma terially exceed that required to properly compress the cap liner, or attain such a degree as might result in the crushing o1 deforming of said portion of the neck or nozzle, I provide the yielding support for the cam track extension 17 aiforded by the spring 21; and as previously explained, the tension of the spring may be altered by adjusting the screw 24. After the capping operation has been completed the roller 13 rides off the cam track extension 17 so as to allow the table or carrier to descend to normal position, and as itdescends the lugs 56 ride down the inclines. 57 of the cam block 58 thereby topermit the spring 53 to project the yoke forwardly and swing the jaws 40 to open position. As the container is released by the gripping jaws 40, they engage the guide rail 68 which directs them onto the discharging belt or conveyor 66., i

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim is: j a I 1 V 1. In mechanism for applying caps to containers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carrier for the containers, a pressure head arranged. in opposed relation thereto, means forcreating relative movement between the carrier and head in a direction toward each other,and gripping means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the neck or nozzle of the container and engage the abutment thereof, the engaging surfaces of said gripping means and abutment being so shaped as to cause the container, by reason of the cooperation of said surfaces, to be removed from the supporting surface of the carrier thereby to relieve the body portion of the container of strain during the capping operation.

2. In mechanism for applying caps .to containers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carrier on which a container is adapted to rest, a pressure head above thecarrier, means for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other to effect the capping operation, and gripping means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the neck or nozzle of the container and engage the underneath surface of the abutment thereof, the engaging surfaces of the gripping means and abutment being so shaped as to cause the containers, by

' reason of their cooperation, to be lifted from the supporting surface of the carrier during the capping operation.

8. In mechanism for applymg caps to containers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carrier on which a container is adapted to rest, a pressure head above the carrier, means for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other to effect the capping operation, and grippmg means comprising opposed members and havlng a fixed position with rcspect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the neck or nozzle of the container and engage the underneath surface of the abutment, the abutment engaging surfaces of the aforesaid members diverging upwardly so as to have a cam action on the abutment. and lift the container from the carrier during the capping operation.

4. In mechanism for applying caps to con tainers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carrier for the containers, a pressure head arranged in opposed relation to the carrier, means for creating relative movement between the car-. rier and pressure head toward each other, gripping means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the neck or nozzle of the container and engage the abut ment thereof, a member reciprocably supported by the carrier for actuating the gripping means, and an element associated with the pressure head for positively moving the member and causing the gripping means to unyieldingly grasp the neck of the container as the carrier and pressure head are moved relatively toward each other.

5. In mechanism for applying caps to containers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carrier for the containers, a pressure head arranged in opposed relation to the carrier, means for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other, gripping'means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the neck or nozzle of the container and engage the abutment thereof, a member reciprocably supported by the carrier for actuating the gripping means, and a cam member fixed with respect to the pressure head for engaging and positively moving said member in a direction to cause the gripping means to unyieldingly grasp the neck of the container as the carrier and pressure head are moved relatively toward each other.

6. In mechanism for applying caps to containers having necks or nozzles provided with abutments, the combination of a carirer on which the container is adapted to rest, a pressure head above the carrier, means for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other, a pair of opposed gripping aws supported by the carrier for grasping the neck or nozzle of the container supported thereon, a member reciprocably supported by the carrier for effecting the closing of said aws, and a cam fixed with respect to the pressure head for cooperation with said member thereby to move the same and cause the gripping jaws to unyieldingly grasp the neck of the container as the carrier and pressurehead are moved relatively toward each other.

7. In mechanism for applying caps to the necks or nozzles of containers, the combination of a carrier on which the container is adapted to rest, a pressure head above the carrier, means for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other, a pair of jaws pivotally supported by the carrier for grasping the neck or nozzle of the container, a yoke having its opposed ends pivotally connected to the respective jaws, a rod to which said yoke is connected, guiding means by which the rod is reciprocably supported, a spring tending to shift the yoke in a direction to open the jaws, a member fixed with respect to the pressure head, said member and the rod having one a cam portion and the other a part for cooperation therewith whereby the rod is moved longitudinally to close the jaws when the C211 rier is moved toward the pressure head.

8. In mechanism for applying caps to con tainers having abutments adjacent their ends .to which the caps are to be applied, the combination of a carrier for the containers a a 0 pressure head arranged 1n opposed relation thereto, yielding means for creating relative movement between the carrier and head in a direction toward each other thereby to eflect the capping operation, and gripping means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrier and arranged to grasp the container and engage the abutment thereof so as to relieve the body portion of the container of strain during the capping operation.

9. In mechanism for applying caps tocontainers having abutments adjacent their ends to which the caps are to be applied, the combination of a carrier on which a container is adapted to rest, a pressure head above the carrier, pressure means of a yielding character for creating relative movement between the carrier and pressure head toward each other to effect the capping operation, an

adjustment for varying the yieldingpressure V of said means, and gripping means having a fixed position with respect to the container supporting surface of the carrierand arranged to grasp the container and engage the abutment thereof so as to relieve the body portion of the container of strain during the capping operation.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature.

GEORGE A. WILLIAMS. 

